UPDATED: September 29, 2021

When it comes to budgeting your food and grocery allowance, you might be asking yourself about “how to save money on meat?” 

Since meat is part of your daily meals and it’s much more expensive than veggies and carbs, it consumes a large part of your grocery costs. 

If you can save money on meat, you’ll certainly make a dent in your budget and save lots of money.

Here are 11 effective ways to save some money on meat that will surely lower the cost of your everyday meals.

1. Buy Cheapest Meat in Bulk Via a Cow Share

You’ll find local farmers who can butcher and kill the cow either for a small fee or for free. Check Crowdcow and AmericanGrassFed.org for cow shares.

2. Shop Early and Get Discounts

Visit your local supermarkets early in the morning. Many of them offer their past-prime meat at a discounted price early in the day.

3. Watch Out For Your Local Meat Shop’s Promo/Sale

When your local market shop offers promo or sale, you need to grab this opportunity to stock up and buy more than your usual meat consumption. 

You may consider buying in big packages, and then break them down into smaller packages once you have thoroughly cleaned them.

4. Grind It Yourself (G.I.Y.) Ground Beef Or Cut It Yourself (C.I.Y.)

Instead of buying prepared ground sirloin or beef, why not just buy a whole chuck steak if you have a grinder at home? 

You may also buy a whole chicken, and then just cut and slice the chicken in your kitchen, instead of buying those prepared packages of breast and cutlets, which are a bit pricey.

5. Shop At Stores That Offer Budget-Friendly Prices

Check your local shops or supermarkets like Aldi that offer cheaper prices for meats. You can also shop at local farms and ranches where you can buy an entire cow, pig, chicken, and turkey for a cheaper price. 

Check this guide for more information.

6. Look For Coupons

Actually, there are coupons for meat, which can be used to get discounts. Craving or rotisserie chicken, pot roast, chuck roast, or beef stew? You may get them through meat retailers, such as Hormel, Tyson, and other retail shops. 

One great hack to get printable coupons is through Coupons.com, wherein you just need to enter the brand or product and you will find a coupon available right away. 

7. Look for BOGO Sales

Check grocery stores that offer BOGO (Buy One, Get One) sales. Kroger usually offers BOGO sales a few times a year on their grass-fed meat. Your local grocery store might also have these deals.

8. Buy Meat From Local Farmers Via EatWild

EatWild offers a list of over 1,400 U.S. farms offering a variety of meat, including turkeys, rabbits, ducks, chickens, yak, venison, elk, goat, veal, lamb, pork, and beef.

9. Pay Only for the Meat

Buy the cheapest meat per pound by asking your butcher to get rid of the fat and bone from a roast. However, only a few stores offer this option so be sure to ask first.

10. Use Inexpensive Cut

Grocery stores often market and price the same meat differently. For example, go for boneless beef chuck steak instead of a top round steak or flank steak, or a pork shoulder in place of pork chops.

11. Go Frozen Instead of Fresh

Fresh meats are undeniably more expensive than frozen ones. One of the cheapest ways to buy chicken or other types is to go for frozen ones and save as much as 50% of the price of fresh cuts.

Meat is expensive and can easily consume a large chunk of your grocery budget. If you love to eat pork, chicken, or beef for their chewy texture but don’t want to spend too much, you should consider the tips listed here.